This was not the Thanksgiving post we thought we would be sharing

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Our last blog post was full of hope and optimism. After feeling travel fatigue all year, we returned home and settled into our new home state of NH. We rented a house for the winter as a way to gain stability and space, and to stay local as we lined up meetings for our cabin build. We couldn't wait to enter a new chapter. 4 years of adventures traveling the country were incredible, and more were in the cards. However, right now, the name of the game was stillness. We wanted to give our cats their first true home ever. We wanted to give Tanner room to relax in his old age. We wanted to give ourselves daily routines where we could optimize healthy personal and work habits.

Things took a turn almost immediately. Our rental was adorable and checked off many of our ideal traits, like seclusion, scenery, and coziness. But underneath all this was a family experiencing immense stress. The details of this stress are not worth publicizing on the blog, except that we noticed one surprising change that made us realize we made a big mistake: Tanner was not coping.

We thought the larger space would help him feel free to roam around. He has Canine Cognitive Dysfunction, aka doggie dementia, which leads to him pacing around areas and getting stuck in corners and behind furniture. In the small space of the RV, ending up stuck was basically a given. However, we didn't account for the added space being more places for him to slip on floors, and more overwhelm when we was feeling confused or disoriented. Because this was a furnished rental, there was only so much we could do to make him comfortable. We bought him extra non-slip mats and soft plushies to help him feel more secure.

These worked when he was tired enough to lay down, but the rest of the time, he would slip and slide on the floors, one time slipping so much that he ended up doing a split with his back legs. At night, he would pace for hours. We ended up running on fumes as we attempted to take turns staying up with him.

After a couple of weeks, we knew this was not the place of solace we expected. In addition to Tanner's plights, we were dealing with several of our own, and we could not continue living there. We began looking for other rentals that might be a better fit, but it was like finding a needle in a haystack. Anthony and I wanted space, but Tanner couldn't handle it. We had 3 pets when most rentals only allow 2 maximum. We are still in a state of financial flux after Anthony's job loss, and most rentals were a reach in what we could afford. After coming up empty handed, we decided to move back to the RV.

We were going to be heading back to the trailer anyways to spend Thanksgiving week at our MA home-base with family. We just thought it would be only a week, and during that time we would finish prepping the rig for winter. Instead, we packed up a majority of our belongings at the rental and used this trip home as our move back. We only returned to the rental without the pets to grab the rest of our stuff. It was official: What we thought was our big pivot was actually just a big boomerang.

The amount of work it took to move everything into the rental, and then a mere 2.5 weeks later move it out again, I can't even explain in writing. We were beyond exhausted and overwhelmed. The day we left, I spent 90% of it in a dreamlike state, and the other 10% crying. We arrived back to the RV well after dark and still had to run our heat and remove all the bins we put inside to keep out of the elements.

But then something magical happened.

The cats settled right in. We immediately felt at peace. Tanner began sleeping through the night every single night. It's amazing the perspective shift that can come from being away for a little while. We were so sure that renting a home was the right move, and maybe in some circumstances it would have been, but we gave up the comforts of our home-on-wheels expecting to gain a space where we could thrive. We didn't get that. We realized that, if that such space wasn't achievable, nothing was more important than the security of the place we feel most at home. With the added bonus of family 50 feet away.

Of course, moving back to the RV raises a lot of challenges and questions. We are not returning to full-time travel, travel being the operative word. We are keenly aware that winter is fast approaching, and we will need to decide if we can weather it at our home-base or if we will need to find an alternative living situation. At this point, we don't feel that continuing to look for another rental is the best move. However, we also don't know if Tanner's health will allow him to travel out of New England. We figured we will stay stationary at our home-base through the holidays, like we have every other year. Then we will see where things stand. We might need to find a short-term rental for a couple of months to get us through the dead of winter. We might need to invade my parents' house even more. We might choose to head to a warmer climate in the RV for a little while. Too much is up in the air to know which will be the right decision, and so for now, we focus on the present.

The other challenge is that we've returned to the dwelling of limited resources. We needed to jump back into our routines for conserving water and tank space, alerting our pump-out dudes that we're in need of them once again, and doing the same with our propane company, who generously lent us a couple extra tanks like years' past. Knowing we would be moving out of the RV, we let a few things slide that we otherwise would have repaired or replaced. We would need to take care of those promptly.

But first, we settled in for our Thanksgiving celebration.

We had a wonderful day and had so much to be thankful for, especially our ability to make quick decisions to leave a situation that wasn't serving us, and our RV for being the best respite.

Of course, after the chaos of the previous few weeks, we lacked the stamina to keep the celebration going. The next day was Tanner's 14th birthday, and we were hell bent on taking him for a memorable excursion. We were so proud of him for getting through his ruff year. He lost both his fur-sister and fur-auntie. He handled the new kitty sibling introduction with incredible grace and then dealt with the upheaval during the ringworm fiasco. He lived with our low-level stress and fatigue all year. Now, he is navigating his senior years with dementia. We had plans to take him on a journey to many pet boutiques and parks, giving him the day of a lifetime. But we were all tired and moody. Other people that we ran into out on the town were also tired and moody. Black Friday was Crash Friday, and after one pet boutique and a quick 1-mile walk, we called it a day.

We felt defeated until we realized that we had already given Tanner the best birthday present. We listened to and honored his needs, and we brought him back home.

The next order of business was doing our periodic furniture switcheroo. We went from a loveseat to a chair, but after almost 2.5 years, that chair was in rough shape. Not only was it worn from regular contact with our booties, the kitties thought it was a scratching post. Something about the upholstery intrigued them, because they have scratched no other piece of furniture, but boy did they have a grand time with these arms.

We decided on a type of furniture we had not yet put in the RV: a chaise lounge. Anthony had been missing the option for propping his legs up and reclining, but we wanted something that wouldn't take up too much space. We chose a size that allows us to orient it sideways, along the wall, like we did with our loveseat. Only we do not have a right arm, which creates the illusion of a little more space in the middle of our living area.

We must say, we have been pleasantly surprised with the cost-effective, small space furniture we have found over the years. This chaise was only $260 and is quite comfortable for the price. It was also easy to assemble, coming in one package and only needing us to connect the arm, back, and legs. We also enjoy the translations on the instructions. We have indeed made it our "private collection."

Once we determined that the chaise was a keeper, it was time to change out the ottoman. Our wicker ottoman did not hold up well in travel and kept collapsing in on itself. We switched it out for a sturdier foldable ottoman that doubles as a tabletop. Over the years, we have needed fewer storage solutions as we continued downsizing and decluttering. Now, if we do travel a little bit in 2026, we won't feel the need to bring as much as we did in previous years, since we will have a definite return time no later than late spring, when our home-bases become RV-friendly again. A smaller ottoman was perfect for our needs.

Still on our list are a couple of small fixes, as well as some bigger ones that need to wait a while. If we do travel in January, we sure hope our replacement tongue jack arrives by then. We are in talks with the pros on what on earth we can do about the gaping hole in our floor. We have also noticed some small leaks during heavy rainstorms.

We still face many unknowns as we venture towards 2026, but we feel content. After burning out during this year of travels, we thought the only solution was leaving the RV and settling for several months, but our autumn of slow travel and our rental home whiplash made us realize that we still have good times to come in our RV. It's not perfect, but it's ours. We're also resting on the notion that, whether we're in the RV for 2 months or 12, our future cabin awaits, and we are determined to make it just as homey as we've made our beloved Buggy. We have the recipe. It starts with the decor and little touches. Then, we add the love and appreciation. Finally, we add the memories.

"Be content with what you have: rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."
- Lao-Tzu